Ryro's Top 10 dopest fatty-boombalatiest ancient coins of 2024

[Ryro]

Welcome, welcome to THE bestest, dopestest, most perfectest (to me) top ten all around all the 2024 year round, from here to Hades and back. This year I spoiled myself, again, with coins from all over the ancient world, even dipping a tentative toe into modern coinage. 

To kick off the fun and festivities, coming in at #10, here is a big muck you to me and my money. It's the 2nd most expensive coin I bought this year, and certainly the ugliest. But what can I say, the coin is a piece of shit about a guy/god having to clean up a decades worth of shit. But it's extremely rare, has enough detail to vouch for its meaning, at over 50 gr he's a chonker, and is one of, if not, the hardest labor to acquire.  Can you dig it?

IBERIA, Uncertain. 2nd-1st century BC. PB (33mm, 50.92 g, 4h). Head of Herakles right / Herakles standing right, cleaning the Augean Stables; uncertain legend to left. CCP –. Brown patina, minor chips and marks. Fine. Extremely rare.

This lead piece is similar in module to a group of early Spanish tesserae, though the style here is significantly more refined. The present piece includes a legend, unfortunately not complete enough to attempt a reading. The types are also unknown, but likely represent the fifth labor of Herakles, mucking out the stables of Augeas, king of Elis.

Sure, I picked up some pretty pieces along the way this year. #9 is ex NF pal @Sulla80, features Mr pretty boy himself, Dionysus. It's bent but beautiful. Since the bend is not near the artistry it adds more wonder then if it weren't. And, as you know, there's nothing quite like holding a hefty little tetradrachm in your hand. 

THRACE. Maroneia. Ca. 2nd-1st centuries BC. AR tetradrachm (31mm, 1h). NGC Choice Fine, edge bends. Ca. after 146 BC. Head of Dionysus right, wreathed with ivy, wearing mitra (cloth headband) / ΔIONYΣOY / ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ-MAPΩNITΩN, Dionysus standing facing, head left, nude except for cloak draped over left arm, bunch of grapes in outstretched right hand, narthex stalks cradled in left arm; ΠAPΩ monogram in inner left field, ΠAΩ monogram in inner right field. SNG Copenhagen 637-644 var. (different monograms).

#8 is a hard to find coin with a perfectly placed chip minted where the labor was supposed to have taken place!? Yes, please. 

ARKADIA, STYMPHALOS

Silver Obol. Circa 370-350 BC.

11 mm, 0,64 gr.

Obv: Head of youthful Herakles to left, wearing lion's skin headdress.

Rev: ΣTYMΦA Head and neck of crested water-bird to right. 

BCD Peloponnesos 1694. BMC 4-5.

Chipped, otherwise VF, Rare

The types of this fine coin directly refers to the Sixth Labor of Herakles. The obverse depicts the hero and demigod himself, wearing the pelt of the Nemean lion on his head. The reverse shows the fearsome head of a Stymphalos marsh-bird, said to be have been raised by Ares and which were sacred to Artemis. After fleeing from wolves, the birds had infested a swamp in Arkadia and were terrorizing the countryside by destroying crops as well as people. Their beaks were of bronze, and they had sharp metallic feathers they could launch at their victims, as well as poisonous dung. Herakles used a krotala (similar to a castanet) made by the god Hephaistos specifically for this purpose to scare the birds into flight, which he then shot with his arrows which had been dipped in the poisonous blood of the Hydra he had slain earlier. He killed many, and the rest flew away, leaving Arkadia at peace once again.

 Purchased from Numisfitz GmbH

#7 is a lifetime Sulla Denarius. Minted to pay his soldiers to marchon Rome. A type that I've been after for a while:

L. Cornelius Sulla . Denarius, mint moving with Sulla 84-83, AR 18mm, 3.36 g. Diademed head of Venus r.; in r. field, Cupid standing l., holding palm branch; below, L·SVLLA. Rev. IMPER Jug and lituus between two trophies; below, ITERVM. Babelon Cornelia 29. Sydenham 761. RBW 1364. Crawford 359/2. Obverse scratches. Purchased from Savoca May 2024
Scarce. No known portraits can be certainly attributed to L. Cornelius Sulla. This coin without a portrait was minted during his lifetime when he marched on Rome to take control over the Roman republic

Coming in at #6, despite being "modern" just a really cool coin by the Sun King, with viscous imagery:

FRANCE LOUIS XIV LE GRAND “The Sun King”, labor of Hercules, 1675 (24.5mm, 5.49g, 6h) VF

Obverse: LVD. XIII. DG FR. AND. NAV. REX Bust to right of Louis XIV

Reverse: VNVS. TERGEMINVM. 1675. Hercules standing on the left knocking out Geryon placed on the right

VF 

Catalog: F.12667

#5 there's no mystery to why this sphinx is on my top 10, it's beautiful, has grapes and amphora ie wine, and minted right around the time of the march of the 10,000:

ISLANDS off IONIA, Chios. Circa 400-380 BC. AR Drachm . Sphinx seated left; to left, grape bunch above amphora; HΓ monogram to right / Quadripartite incuse square. Mavrogordato 42a; HGC 6, 1124.Very Fine.

Weight:3,5 gr

Diameter:14,6 mm

It's apt that coin #4, that cost me an arm and a leg, would be of Herakles beating king Diomedes, owner of man eating horses to death. In many tellings Herakles feeds the king to his own horses. As well, it was said that Alexander the great's mighty steed Bucephalus was a descendant of this line of horses:

Roman Provincial. EGYPT. Alexandria. Antoninus Pius 138-161 A.D. Æ drachm (21,97 g., 32 mm.). Dated in the year RY 10 (146)

Laureate head right.

Heracles and the horses of Diomedes : Heracles standing right, raising club, holding by the hair Diomedes, collapsed on one knee ; either side, foreparts of horse.

Rare drachm from the Twelve Labours of Hercule!

Kamp. 35.347 - D. 2614 - RPC IV, 987

Fine. Attractive brown patina.

#3 barbarous, strange, and more  beautiful then 99% of the other types:

CARIA. Uncertain. Drachm (Circa 197 BC). 'Pseudo-Chios' mint. In the types of Alexander III of Macedon.

Obv: Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin.

Rev: AΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ.

Zeus seated left on throne, holding eagle and sceptre. Controls: In left field, monogram-in-circle above grapes.

C. Lorber, “The 'Pseudo-Chios' mint: A new drachm mint in Asia Minor” in NC 180 (2020), pp. 21-38 (unlisted monogram).

Condition: Very fine.

Weight: 4.07 g.

Diameter: 18 mm.

My #2 that could easily be #1, I hate it when that happens in the middle of the night, I believe to be my most artistically beautiful portrait for the year and it had a tie in to everyone's favorite cousin kisser, Pyrrhos of Epiros:

Campania, Neapolis

Nomos/Didrachm (6.77 g), ca. 300-275 BC. BC Head of a nymph with a hair band / androcephalic bull, above Nike with a wreath. HN Italy 579. Corroded and small cleaning scratches. Dark tint. s.sh./fssch. Ex Rauch 36 (1986), 14. Purchased from Rauch April 2024 E-Auction 43 lot 39

And my tip top #1 coin of 2024...

C. Valerius Flaccus. 82 BC. AR Denarius (fineness: 950 ‰) (19mm, 3.61 g, 6h). Massalia mint. Winged and draped bust of Victory right with necklace and ear pendants; star to upper left / Legionary aquila between two signa, one marked H (Hastati), the other marked P (Principes). C. VAL. FLA/ IMPERAT/ EX. - SC/HP. (translation: “Caius Valérius Flaccus/ Imperator/ Ex Senatus Consulto/ Hastati - Principes”, (Caius Valérius Flaccus imperator/ With the agreement of the Senate, Hastati and Principes). Crawford 365/1a. Sydenham 747a; Valeria 12. Superb, ideally centered. Very beautiful bust of Victory, finely detailed. Pleasant reverse. Old Cabinet toning. Purchased from cgb.fr Jan 2024

Honorable mentions:

Though unassuming, this coins counermark shows Herakles 2 and 1/2 labor. While he was fighting the Lernaean Hydra, Hera sent her favorite giant crab after Herakles. He killed it, and then the Hydra. But Hera was so sad she put it in the sky as our cancer sign:

 

Kos AE 17, c. 200-180/170 BC

Islands off Caria, Kos. AE 17 (3.95 g), c. 200-180/170 BC). Uncertain magistrate.

Obv. Head of Herakles facing slightly right, wearing lion skin.

Rev: ΚΩΙΟΝ / [..]ΔIN[...], Bow in quiver and club; counermark: crab within incuse square.

BMC 156-164.

Very fine.

Another Sun King coin featuring a favorite labor:

Louis XIV “The Sun King”, 1649, 

Labor of Hercules, Lernaean Hydra

CONSILIO. - NILNISI. . Crowned shield within order chain R/ERIT HERCVLE MAIOR. Crowned Louis XIV standing left as Hercules, holding a club and tramping the hydra with his right foot; in the exergue: (1649).

VF, RR

Bronze, 26.5mm. Unearthed Oct 2024 Burgundy region of France

 

Just cause, sexy. 

Paphlagonia. Sinope circa 330-250 BC. Trihemiobol AR (9mm, 1,48 g) Head of Nymph Sinope facing slightly left / ΣΙΝΩ, sea eagle standing facing, wings spread, head turned left.

Thanks for looking. It's been a great year and I'd love to hear which were your favorites, why, and see your similar types!

Stay tuned and if your good I'll be posting my 2024 Top 10 shield coins...

Edited December 12, 2024 by Ryro

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

That's a very nice top 10!  My top three fav's are the Flaccus, Sulla (although the bust is probably a younger Marius), and the Louis IV.

 

[kirispupis]

Excellent pickups for the year and it was very tough to choose one, but I had to go with the Stymphalos because I had my own Herculean effort to obtain one. Your Roman Republican examples are also interesting.

[JAZ Numismatics]

Great collecting, and you always post a highly entertaining thread! (I wasn't aware king Diomedes swung that way but hey, each to his own.)

[ambr0zie]

You know I admire your goals of collecting Herakles labors coins, but my favorites were Louis XV, Neapolis with MFB (a type on my watch list) and the Chios sphinx. 

Congratulations for the great, uncommon and interesting designs! 

[DonnaML]

Great selections! #'s 1, 2, & 5 were my favorites.

[Ryro]

Thanks for all the positive responses so far!

I am glad you like the Roman Republic coins @Nerosmyfavorite68. I had a couple of Musa Muses that missed out on this list. But only so much room with a top 10. 

@kirispupis I knew you'd dig the Stymphalos coin as you picked up an absolutely beautifully toned one a couple months ago yourself! We both missed out on one earlier this year that was as good as it gets. I'll search and see if I can find an image of it.

Thanks @JAZ Numismatics, I do have fun! I'd say that Herk is the one that is swinging, or was, until Diomedes decided to start tugging! 

@ambr0zie I love your collecting style as well. I am glad someone likes the Louis XV. I wasn't sure he belonged in this list, but since I am doing 2 top tens (next up are the shield coins, of course) and I might as well as I loved holding it and starring at it in hand. And yeah, that Neapolis almost took #1. But I have been trying to get that type of Flaccus for so long. And it has her wild horny hair as well as wings, just everything I wanted in a type that I have been looking for a long time.

Thanks @DonnaML! I figured you might like that lovely RR, but certainly agree with you picking the Neapolis as your #2.

[panzerman]

That was so hilarious/ I forgot all about my picks.

So.....

I went back and looked intensely....

and.....

I picked.....

Campania/ Neapolis Didrachm

Paphlagonia/ Sinope Trihemiobol

RR/ C. Valerius Flaaccus Denarius

By the way/ glad you are look into classical/ non ancients! Baroque Era coins are apex of coin art.

[kirispupis]

1 hour ago, Ryro said:

@kirispupis I knew you'd dig the Stymphalos coin as you picked up an absolutely beautifully toned one a couple months ago yourself! We both missed out on one earlier this year that was as good as it gets. I'll search and see if I can find an image of it.

I lost out on a total of 5 Stymphalos examples before I finally snagged mine! I wonder if the example you're thinking of is the one where @Deinomenid outbid me. Kind of a funny story on that one, but in the long run he actually helped me. It was a Nomos auction and was live on my wife's birthday. I'd taken her to Vegas and, if I recall, we were at breakfast when that coin came up so I couldn't see to it. Disregarding the fact that my max was properly outbid, such an expensive purchase for a coin on her birthday would not have gone over well, and I really like my example where I paid less, so I'm good... 🙂 

[DonnaML]

37 minutes ago, kirispupis said:

such an expensive purchase for a coin on her birthday would not have gone over well, 

I don't know why. You could have given it to her. It sounds like a wonderful birthday present to me!

Edited December 12, 2024 by DonnaML

[kirispupis]

16 minutes ago, DonnaML said:

I don't know why. You could have given it to her. It sounds like a wonderful birthday present to me!

True story. I once gave her (for no particular holiday) an ancient coin.

She: Why are you giving me a coin!?
Me: This is a denarius of Antoninus Pius. I gave all my other relatives coins and thought this one suited you.
She: (temperature raising) Why? I don't need a coin...
Me: Because it's in EF condition, which means it's perfect, like you.
She: Ok. I'll take it.

[CPK]

A great list! I voted for the Sulla denarius, the Neapolis didrachm, and the Valerius Flaccus denarius.

[savitale]

I picked three of the labors of Heracles coins. I think that is a really cool idea for a collection.

[Sulla80]

Nice coins @Ryro - I had a hard time picking between the coin I already picked once and two of my favorite RR denarii, the barbarous Caria psuedo-Chios drachm which also strikes me as a cool looking coin.

[JayAg47]

Nice list of coins, I like your Hercules themed coins in particular, are you putting together a set of 12 Labours of Hercules?

[Curtisimo]

Great coins Ryan! I went with Neapolis as my favorite, followed by ol’ Barb and the Chios. The Chios was on my watchlist too but I ended up missing the sale. I’m glad it found a great home. 🙂 

[MrMonkeySwag96]

Despite the corrosion, that Neopolis Didrachm has a gorgeous portrait and well centered reverse 

[Qcumbor]

Great selection @Ryro

Your #3 cracks me up and had to be my #1 from your selection. Close 2nd would be your Sulla denarius and Neapolis didrachm (I fall in love with that nymph at first sight) !

And that :

https://media.invisioncic.com/k321387/monthly_2024_12/MugLife_09072024015848.mp4.66be19060a49c52c0b708f012ad08a56.mp4

is hilarious

Happy Saturnalia

Q

[Ryro]

Thanks again, gang! I appreciate all the kindness and am glad my strange year ended up being a good one. 

I didn't know you liked green coins @panzerman. The name even tells you the problem with Baroque coins. You go b-a-roke buying them😁

Great to 3 @CPK! I can't argue with your first 2. That Sulla is getting more love than I thought it would. But sure am glad to have it. 

Thanks @savitale! Here are a couple more that just missed out:

THRACE, Hadrianopolis. Pseudo-autonomous issue. 3rd century AD. Æ 17mm (17mm, 4.42g, 6h). Labor of Hercules type. TON KTICTHN, laureate head of Hercules right / ADRIANO POLEITW(N), Hercules standing left, holding club overhead in raised right hand, with his left holding the Lernaean Hydra, which is entwined about his left leg; to right, bow and quiver set on ground. Voegtli type 2i; Yuroukova, Hadrianople 709 (V298/R670); Mushmov 2479; SNG Copenhagen. VF. Purchased from Savoca Sept 2024

It's too expensive of a pursuit and you have to endure lots of losses just to get a lousy example. Nobody else should attempt doing it😉

I thought you might like that one coin @Sulla80. And great descriptor if that Barbey-kles. It's a real cool coin. 

@JayAg47 certainly not. And no one else should either 😉😉

Ooh, glad it was only in your watchlist @Curtisimo! I kind of stole that thing. Also glad you appreciate the Neapolis. I had a real hard time not giving it the top spot.

@MrMonkeySwag96you nailed. I would've paid through the nose if not for that corrosion. She is a beauty in hand. 

Haha! Thanks @Qcumbor. He really is a cut up. That face is just so expressive. I wouldn't want to run into him in a dark alley. 

 

[panzerman]

1 hour ago, Ryro said:

I didn't know you liked green coins @panzerman. The name even tells you the problem with Baroque coins. You go b-a-roke buying them😁

 

Yeah/ after receiving the beautifull Künker Berlin Auction catologue/ it has wide selection of the beautifull coinage struck during that bloody period 1618-48. All I can say, no chance of going broke/ I can't even bid on them. Awesome coins if you were Elon Musk. Saw AV 30 Dukaten Klippe Salzburg/ AV 18 Dukaten Sachsen/ and on it went. Most in FDC. If I were Elon/ I would put M Euro bids on all of them.😎 Must be nice....only in my dreams🤐 Reality sucks....

[Roman Collector]

My 3 favorites?? Hands down the Louis XIV!! That is the dopest, most badass reverse I've ever seen!!! This is followed by the Alexandrian Antoninus Pius, which are impossible to acquire in any grade higher than aF. Cool reverse type!! And then there's the Nymph/man-faced bull. What an artistic portrait!! 

[shanxi]

For me the most attractive coin is the Chios Drachm. Wonderful.

[singig]

My favourites coins are the C. Valerius Flaccus denarius and the Maroneia tetradrachm, I bought one this year too. Congratulations !

[robinjojo]

My picks are the Arkadia, Stymphalos obol, the C. Valerius Flaccus denarius, and the Campania, Neapolis nomos/didrachm.  Wonderful coins all!

 

[Ursus]

You had a good collecting year! I especially like the Neapolis didrachm.